This Thanksgiving, we asked eight National Geographic photographers to share images they are grateful for. We wanted to see photographs that they were thankful for having taken, thankful for the access granted to them, or thankful for what they were able to document. From David Doubilet’s image of a parrotfish engaging a school of Galápagos grunts to Amy Toensing’s portrait of a young Syrian refugee, these images remind us of the strength of courage, renewal, and connection.

Pictures will always have many interpretations through the eye of the viewer. I am always surprised at the range of feelings that people express about this image of a lone parrotfish engaging a school of Galápagos grunts in the Galápagos Islands. People have commented